Who wrote the gospels? When were they written? Are they based on eyewitnesses?

Mike Licona is one of my favorite Christian historians, and so I’m happy to feature a lecture where he answers questions about the four gospels. He explains why the four biographies in the New Testament should be accepted as historically accurate: (55 minutes)

Summary:

What a Baltimore Ravens helmet teaches us about the importance of truth

What happens to Christians when they go off to university?

The 2007 study on attitudes of American professors to evangelical Christians

Authors: Who wrote the gospels?

Bias: Did the bias of the authors cause them to distort history?

Contradictions: What about the different descriptions of events in the gospels?

Dating: When were the gospels written?

Eyewitnesses: Do the gospel accounts go back to eyewitness testimony?

This is basic training for Christians. They ought to show this lecture whenever new people show up, because pastors should not quote the Bible until everyone listening has this information straight.